ChristChurch Triple Tragedy

The image above is of the ChristChurch Catholic Cathedral — more info Feb. 27th. The images & story below are of the ChristChurch Anglican Cathedral.

Just before 1 p.m. on Tuesday 22 FEB 2011, ChristChurch, New Zealand [Monday ~ 5 p.m. my time PST] was hit with a killing earthquake — before they had recovered from a previous earthquake in early September AND a damaging aftershock shortly afterward in December, 2010.

Geologists say the latest tremor is actually an aftershock of the September earthquake yet it killed more — it was closer to both the city centre & the earth’s ground level.

Three major earthquakes in less than six months is an unbelievable, terrible tragedy.

ChristChurch Cathedral sustained major damage on top of previous damage. The spire tore off the Tower, a popular tourist spot that had stairs to climb to the top.

All Cathedral personnel are accounted for but it is feared there may be 22 visitors trapped under the wreckage. The site, as well as five others in ChristChurch, are high priority for emergency crews.

More than 100 people are dead & over 200 missing — many are buried in rubble throughout ChristChurch.

It appears that many Cathedral Tower windows were damaged & the internal structure had parts of the wall cave-in — where the bronze bells usually rang.

From photos, it appears the Rose window in the south Nave is still in place but has sustained some damage — the wall has caved in dangerously close to its frame.

Windows below it have almost certainly sustained some damage. I wonder how the interior mosaic panels fared — made by Salviati & Co. of Venice, the oldest is from 1882.

ChristChurch was still recovering from the earlier earthquakes in 2010. Some of the windows for the Cathedral were out for repair.

Many people were feeling the psychological effects of the two earlier earthquakes — I can’t imagine having to deal with another one with so much damage.

Some of the windows in the South Nave, completed in 1881, include the Harmon Memorial Windows:

and the Wilson Memorial Windows:

The ChristChurch Cathedral was already in a state of having damage repaired from the 2010 earthquakes — now they have even more damage to deal with.

I’m sure their building fund has been hit hard — there may be some help from the New Zealand government. Online donations can be made at ChristChurch Cathedral — Donations.

I hope & pray these strong people will carry on. May this be the last of the terrible aftershocks.